Should I avoid a V60 with the (D4) VEA engine?

[Tdi2000]

Hi guys,

We’ve put down a deposit on a 2014 V60 with the 2.0 (181 D4 VEA) engine. It’s got a full Volvo history and has been pretty much faultless in the hands of the seller and has covered 120k. Selling due to emigration.

It’s had recall work completed and is now due the seat belt and coolant hose recalls which is fine. I’ve been reading up on this engine and it’s various issues and am now slightly put off by it. Granted, people only come to the forums to discuss issues but there’s no denying that the VEA engine has had a lot of recalls; fuel lines, manifold, EGR cooler and others.

I know that there are countless owners who have had no issues at all but the sheer number of recalled cars and inconvenience of having a car off the road are not to be ignored. Not to mention big bills for repairs or arguments over who should pay.

Would these issues put you off buying a V60 with this engine? Will it be a ticking time bomb?!

Interested to know your thoughts.

Thanks.

[Zebster]

Originally Posted by Tdi2000

Hi guys,

We’ve put down a deposit on a 2014 V60 with the 2.0 (181 D4 VEA) engine. It’s got a full Volvo history and has been pretty much faultless in the hands of the seller and has covered 120k. Selling due to emigration.

It’s had recall work completed and is now due the seat belt and coolant hose recalls which is fine. I’ve been reading up on this engine and it’s various issues and am now slightly put off by it. Granted, people only come to the forums to discuss issues but there’s no denying that the VEA engine has had a lot of recalls; fuel lines, manifold, EGR cooler and others.

I know that there are countless owners who have had no issues at all but the sheer number of recalled cars and inconvenience of having a car off the road are not to be ignored. Not to mention big bills for repairs or arguments over who should pay.

Would these issues put you off buying a V60 with this engine? Will it be a ticking time bomb?!

Interested to know your thoughts.

Thanks.

If its had the safety recall for the fire risk then the manifold will have been checked and the software mod performed. I'm not aware of a fuel line issue, but you missed off the high oil consumption issue!

In my opinion the biggest concern is the EGR cooler blocking, followed by the EGR valve sticking. At that age and mileage I don't think you'll get much Volvo support for these problems, but there's YouTube videos and any garage could do the necessary work (or get a remap to permanently disable the EGR flow and suppress the warnings). It's a really great engine with excellent power delivery and economy.

[Dash300]

Originally Posted by Tdi2000

Hi guys,

We’ve put down a deposit on a 2014 V60 with the 2.0 (181 D4 VEA) engine. It’s got a full Volvo history and has been pretty much faultless in the hands of the seller and has covered 120k. Selling due to emigration.

It’s had recall work completed and is now due the seat belt and coolant hose recalls which is fine. I’ve been reading up on this engine and it’s various issues and am now slightly put off by it. Granted, people only come to the forums to discuss issues but there’s no denying that the VEA engine has had a lot of recalls; fuel lines, manifold, EGR cooler and others.

I know that there are countless owners who have had no issues at all but the sheer number of recalled cars and inconvenience of having a car off the road are not to be ignored. Not to mention big bills for repairs or arguments over who should pay.

Would these issues put you off buying a V60 with this engine? Will it be a ticking time bomb?!

Interested to know your thoughts.

Thanks.

Mine has been faultless from new. Now at 122k and main dealer serviced from new and until this year worked hard towing a heavy trailer load to shows.
As you say forums just contain a minority of owners and not all of them have issues, it's the same with all forums. Check to see if the trans fluid(if auto) has been changed. If it has towed needs changing every 2 years. Even if it hasn't towed it's well worth getting it changed at the next service. Also check to see if it has the decent Volvo coolant. If it is a bluey/green you have got the best fluid which will last and protect the system. Mine had the straw coloured which was used for a short while by Volvo and was not as protective of the radiator and other cooling components. I had mine changed by Volvo at the last service.
More than happy with mine and have kept hold of it as the second car rather than trade it in for it's replacement.
Good luck.

[Tannaton]

The reliability of the VEA engine (assuming recalls done) is on a par with the D5 - and have owned both.

So get it bought and enjoy it.

[Sotosound]

The only issue that has the potential to be a longer term concern is oil consumption, but even that isn’t guaranteed to be a problem.

I suspect that even the EGR cooler issue might now become history since the latest replacements are quite a different design to the problematic original design.

In the end, this will come down to the specific car that you’ve placed a deposit on.

I have a 2014 64 V70 VEA D4 Geartronic with 133k on the clock. It’s been a great car. All of the recalls have been addressed, and the Volvo dealer that dealt with the ECM software and bleeder hose recalls a couple of months ago also replaced the EGR cooler at Volvo’s expense despite the high mileage. On a bad day, it might use half a litre of oil between annual services. This makes me a happy owner.

My wife has a 2015 65 V60 VEA D3 Geartronic with 104k on the clock, and it’s also a great car in most ways. When it went in for the ECM software and bleeder hose recalls, the EGR cooler was found to be OK. It is, however, blighted by high oil consumption, and this is causing us some concern. It currently uses around half a litre every 900 miles.

So, we have a great 2014 VEA and a not-quite-so-great 2015 VEA, and I have no idea why one is great and the other isn’t since, in theory, the piston ring design is common to both.

If the previous keeper of your prospective V60 is reachable, and if they can comment freely regarding oil consumption (if they’re emigrating then why not?), then you might be able to make a safe decision based on the facts of the specific vehicle. I suspect that the chances are that it’ll be ok but that’s only my guess.

[Tdi2000]

Thank you all for your input. The prospective car is consuming oil and is quite a distance from us so we’ve decided to leave it. We had a V60 a couple of years back with the 5 pot 2.0 diesel engine and it covered 70k trouble free. We’re now on the hunt for one of these. 👍🏼